Rob Brown wins Etchells Winter Championships

by Rob Kothe on 13 Jun 2005 Rob Brown, with crew Bruce Wookey and Garry Gudmunson, sailed Steam Packet V to victory with a second place in the last race of the seven race series today.

The final race of the 2005 Etchells Australian Winter Championship got off to a clear start at 11.40am this morning. The fleet of 44 boats sailed in a light north-easterly breeze.

Two boats were over the line at the start; Perth boats Moody Blues (skipper Rob Bird) and Fury (skipper Rick Maxwell).

The series leader Tango, skippered by Iain Murray, with crew Michael Coxon and Andrew Palfrey, fell back in the fleet to record a 13th, but had to discard their earlier OCS to finish second overall.

Julian Plante from North Sails finished third with a third placing in the final race.

Queensland's wellknown Star and Etchells sailor, Michael O'Brien, finished fourth overall. Normally skippered by America's Cup sailor, Mark Bradford, O'Brien took the helm for the first time as his skipper is in Valencia.

Nev Wittey, who was second overall at the start of today's racing, recorded a tenth to finish fifth overall.

Etchells Australian Winter Championship
10th - 13th June 2005

Provisional Results

Series Summary, Preliminary


1 Rob Brown, Bruce Wookey & Garry Gudmunson Steam Packet V 4 (12) 5 8 3 8 2 30

2 Iain Murray, M Coxon & Andrew Palfrey Tango 2 1 9 1 (OCS) 6 13 32

3 Julian Plante, Nick Garland & Sarah RobertsThompson Odyssey 3 4 2 (OCS) 11 10 3 33

4 Michael O'Brien, Brian Hillier & Scott Miller Racer X 8 10 (11) 3 1 11 1 34

5 Neville Wittey, Steve Barlow & Steve Backhouse Yandoo XX (31) 3 1 2 14 4 10 34

6 Mark Bulka, Stewart Nichols & Tony Nash Balanced a Tac 14 2 4 5 5 12 (17) 42

7 John Warlow, Laura Warlow & Brad Gannivan Blinky 3 Eyed Fish 1 8 10 10 9 (23) 15 53

8 Steve Gunther, John Collingwood & Russ Hutton Magic Buzz 11 5 3 (21) 12 5 20 56

9 Cameron Miles, Dave Samson & Phil Smidmore Onya 19 13 (27) 16 4 1 4 57

10 Ken Down, Rob Antill & Paul Braithwaite Whooshka 13 9 14 11 10 (21) 11 68

11 Barry Thom, Grant Lynch & Richard Wells Unlimited Potential (29) 19 12 7 7 17 8 70

12 Rob Bird, Graeme Johnson & Nic Gray Moody Blues 7 11 30 4 17 3 (OCS) 72

13 Andrew Hunn, Peter Conde & Don Buckley Zulu 10 14 8 12 (20) 15 14 73

14 Lindsay Kennedy, James Arnold & Trevor Swinbourne (24) 20 7 22 2 19 5 75

15 Peter Mc'Neill, Richard West & Warwick Bagnall Tom Pepper XVlll 6 16 15 13 15
13 (19) 78

16 Vaughan Prentice, Darren Hutchinson & Ashley Deeks Room of Mirrors 20 6 16 (OCS) 6 16 18 82

17 Rod Jones, Pat Meehan & Jim Walker Ethel 5 28 21 (OCS) 8 20 6 88

18 Adrian` Nash, Simon Estella & Mike Luxton La Vie Dansante (23) 22 18 18 16 7 12 93

19 John Bertrand, Jake Gunter & Tim
Ede Two Saints &a Magpie 25 7 (28) 26 22 2 16 98

20 Gavin Gerrard, Ross Bannon & Andy Pilcher Three Dogs 16 25 13 9 (28) 22 22 107

21 Greg Farrell, Daniel Belcher, Sarah Board & Matthew Chew Echo Beach 15 (27) 24 14 26 27 7 113

22 David Rose, Scott Backhouse & Scotty Webster War of the Roses 40 17 20 6 25 14 (DNF) 122

23 Rick Maxwell & Brad Moore Fury 12 (32) 6 25 31 24 31 129

24 Bucky Smith, Isaac Noble & Geoffrey Smith Easy Tiger 9 36 (DNF) OCS 19 18 9 136

25 Jason Antill, Michael O'Donnell & Joel Antill Trekka 41 29 (DNF) 19 18 9 23 139

26 Dirk Van Der Struyf, Brad Sheridan & Eric Van Leeuwin Etchellemce (38) 15 29 29 21 25 21 140

27 Trevor Martin, Glen Thomson & David Jones Three Ring Circus 22 26 23 33 13 (37) 24 141

28 Nick Knezic, Rod McIntosh & John Coates Count Boris Secret 21 33 17 17 32 33 (DNS) 153

29 John Smallwood, Brian Strathmore & D Morgan Second Wind 17 30 19 28 33 32 (DNS) 159

30 David Healey, Ben Coxon & Russell Johns Hustler (37) 21 25 27 23 31 34 161

31 Donald Wilson, Rod Moore & Greg Humphries The Don (42) 31 22 15 39 30 26 163

32 Robert Griffits, Peter Miller & Jeremy Oliver New Wave 18 35 (DNF) 20 27 36 30 166

33 Mark Sanders, Gunther Lamprecht & John Willey Phantom 30 34 (DNF) 23 24 39 25 175

34 Tony Hirst, Dara Herlihy & Bradley Owen Silky 32 23 (DNF) OCS 29 26 27 182

35 Brian Tyquin, Brad Palmer & George Rose Licorice Allsorts 3 35 18 (DNF) OCS 34 34 28 194

36 Jan Muysven, Paul Grundy & Gary Dinnie Etch 33 37 (DNF) 32 30 29 33 194

37 Greg Kildey, Anja Thomsen & Carl Schultz Electra 26 (43) 26 35 35 41 36 199

38 Ian Audsley, Peter Martyn-Jones & Ted Anderson Kalika 39 39 (DNF) 24 36 35 29 202

39 Rob Davis, Dougal Watt & David Clancy Forceful 43 24 (DNS) 30 37 28 DNS 207

40 Greg Finck, Paul Ryan & John Cathcart Windfall 27 41 (DNF) 34 42 43 32 219

41 Geoff Dews, Karen Dews & Peter Brooke Butterfly Effect 28 42 (DNF) 37 40 38 35 220

42 Greg Forgan Smith, Gary Wakefield & Scott McInawy Grape Juice 36 38 (DNF) 31 38 40 DNS 228

43 Jeff Robinson, Bruce Pitt & Geoff Gallagher Pretty Woman 34 40 (DNF) DNS 41 42 37 239

44 Michael Bennett, Alex Bennett & Victor Cameron Young Viking 44 44 (DNS) 36 43 44 38 249